Episode 718: Early Awards and Excessive Celebrations
Date August 24, 2015 Summary Ben and Sam banter about Joc Pederson and answer emails about Madison Bumgarner, on-field celebrations, the Triple Crown, holding runners, and more. Topics * Could Madison Bumgarner DH? * On-field celebrations and unwritten rules * Closer celebrations * RBI opportunities * Winning the Triple Crown on a bad team * Pitching splits with runners in scoring position * When to hold runners on Intro Fats Domino, "Blue Monday" Banter * There is one week left in the Stompers season, after which Ben and Sam will return home to work on The Only Rule Is It Has To Work. * Joc Pederson was benched due to his poor hitting performance, even though he has been reaching base. * How to decide on Rookie of the Year * Episode 716 follow-up: Madison Bumgarner was used twice recently as a pinch hitter. Email Questions * Michael: "Is Madison Bumgarner is a good enough hitter for an American League team to target as a starting pitcher/DH?" * Jake: "Is this story about the Sox being totally OK with Strop's enthusiastic celebration is significant? This seems like a clear-cut example of a team who is showing maturity or forward thinking by not turning this into a beanball war." * Jessie: "The Mariners suck. It's the 11th inning of the third game against the Red Sox this weekend and they've given up 45 runs to them total so far. My question regards Nelson Cruz, our lone bright spot now that Felix seems to have given up for the year. As of right now he is third in the AL in batting, behind the leader by just four points and first in homers by two. Unfortunately he is stuck in seventh in RBIs, a whopping 15 behind Chris Davis. Is there a stat that calculates expected RBIs based on other stats, assuming one has even average hitters surrounding them in the lineup? If so, where does Nelson come out? Also, if someone won the triple crown but was on a bad team, would they be considered an MVP frontrunner?" * Henry: "Maybe holding the runner on first base is a habit that baseball teams should selectively break. Watching Jon Lester's latest pickoff attempt I wondered why the first baseman bothered to hold the runner on at all. Lester is not going to throw over to first and if he does it seems like it's a boon for the offense. So why not play the first baseman behind the runner and take away the hole? The first baseman could still sneak back in and take throws from David Ross who will tell you himself that he's very good at throwing behind runners. What is the defensive range cost of holding a runner and are there other situations where the runner is traditionally or habitually held on base when it might help the defense to not hold the runner? For example, one out, down by two runs in the fifth, A-Rod is simply not going to steal in front of McCann and Beltran. Why bother holding A-Rod on at all? Wouldn't the defense gain more from covering the hole than from keeping A-Rod two feet closer to first base, etc. Even if a team gave up a few random stolen bases might they gain more by cutting off a few hits? Managers shift the defense on probability, so why not hold the runner or not hold the runner on probability as well?" Play Index * Based on the discussion in Episode 715 about the St. Louis Cardinals' pitchers, Sam wants to see if similar OPS splits with RISP exist over large periods of time. * The 1998 Arizona Diamondbacks were the worst ever pitching staff with RISP, their OPS allowed was .100 worse with RISP than with no runners on. * Going back to 1988, the team with the worst OPS allowed with RISP was .017 points worse than the best team. Notes * In August Joc Pederson is hitting .122/.413/.293. * Ben and Sam wonder if the Rookie of the Year should go to the best player (true talent-wise) or the player with the best stats, even if they think that performance was a fluke. * In Episode 712 Ben and Sam discussed unwritten rule enforcement. Links * Effectively Wild Episode 718: Early Awards and Excessive Celebrations * White Sox shrug off fist pumps by Pedro Strop by Brian Sandalow Category:Episodes Category:Email Episodes